DIY Bird Nest Necklace Tutorial

Discover how to make a beautiful handmade DIY bird nest necklace that looks absolutely stunning. Great gift for Moms & friends and easy to make in about 30 minutes! Easily customizable and great for beginner jewelry makers.

This DIY bird nest necklace originally published April 19, 2017. It has been updated for your convenience. 

Scroll to the end for an easy printable instruction sheet.

Mother’s day is right around the corner! And this year, why not get her something special, meaningful, and something homemade!

We normally do a lot of simple mothers day crafts or kid’s crafts like our I Love you Because Mother’s Day craft. But this year I want to do something a little different. Something a little nicer. Something a little more chic.

Many wouldn’t guess it, but making your own jewelry is actually quite simple. And a very easy one that many moms love is a simple Bird Nest Necklace! It is really simple. And really easy to customize for each Mom.

Bird Nest Necklace Tutorial

You can pick her favorite color.

You can pick pearls or stones that match the birthstones of her children.

You can have one stone, or even up to 7 stones and it still looks good! Yes, I have seen some with as many as 7 pearls and it still looks great. I’ve personally made one with 5 pearls. It’s all in how you circle the stones, you can still make it look great. So don’t you worry if you have a large family, it still works!

You can add charms, or just be simple with only the stones and the nest.

You can use gold wire, silver, bronze, or even colored wire! Make it look chic, antique or hip! It’s all in the colors you choose!

See, the customization is endless!

And even better, with our bird nest necklace tutorial, you can whip one of these up in about 30 minutes!

No, seriously! 30 minutes! That’s all it took for my very first one!

As you get more skilled you can expect that time to go down and be even faster.

I can now wrap and thread one out in about 15-20 minutes. 🙂 It’s a really simple process once you get the hang of it.

And yes, your Mom and maybe even your Mother-in-law will be in complete awe and absolutely LOVE your homemade gift!

It will be far more cherished than a simple flower that will die, or that coupon book filled with good intentions that never gets used.

And she’ll wear it with pride and all her friends will ask her where she got such a beautiful necklace. Then she can brag that her child made it for her! And then share the significance of the stones used to fill the bird’s nest inside! It’s a complete conversation piece and jewelry filled with love all in one!

So let’s get started!

Bird Nest Necklace Supplies

Affiliate links are used to point you in the right direction to find the supplies that you might not already have on your shelves.

• round beads, pearls, gems of your choice
• 24 gauge beading Wire in color of your choice. you can choose
  • silver,
  • gold,
  • copper
  • Antique brass
  • Black
  • Purple
  • Red
  • and many other colors possible
• needle nose pliers with wire cutters
• small jump ring
• necklace chain – I prefer 18″ just because it seems to lay perfectly near the clavicle on most women. Which is a beautiful location for the bird nest necklace. But you can choose whatever length you like best.
• Bird charm (optional) or feather charm (optional)

Step 1 Bird Nest Necklace Tutorial

You will need approximately 5 feet of the beading wire. Yes! You read that correctly. FIVE FEET! Measure it out. Don’t be tempted to skimp on this. You will want the full five feet! TRUST ME!

If you want a thicker nest than what you see in the picture, you can even go for 6-7 feet of wire. But definitely NOT shorter.

Thread the beads onto the wire. Leave about 3 inches of wire for a tail.

Bend the beads into a triangle (if using 3 beads) or circle (if using 4 beads) and twist the wire closed a couple of times to secure it well.

Begin to wrap the wire around the outside of the nest of beads. Don’t wrap too tightly around the beads. But not too loosely either. Think about how a nest would look. And wrap 5 times around the beads.

Step 2 Bird Nest Necklace

Now we will secure the 5 wraps from the previous step. Use the end of the wire (not the 3-inch tail) and thread it through the center of the nest in the first space between the first beads. Pull it all the way through so it comes out on the bottom of the nest. Pull it through. Wrap it around and go through the same spot again. You can do this twice or even 3 times if you prefer in the same spot.

Then move onto the next space between the beads and repeat the same process around the beads. So you can secure in 2-4 spots around the nest. The choice is yours how many spots you choose to secure the nest.

You will want at least 2 spots. But as for 3 or 4, that is up to the look that you want and how secure you want it.

Step 3 Bird nest necklace

Turn the nest over so you are looking at what will be the back of the nest. Make a small loop in the center. Then wrap around in circles at the back of the necklace. Just as you did around the sides of the beads. Do this as much as you would like. Possibly 5-10 times. Where you still have control over the wrappings.

Then secure with another wrapping loop through a previously secured round from step 2. Secure in 2-3 locations.

Step 4 Bird nest necklace

Continue to build the birds nest necklace with the same method of step 3. Keep wrapping around the necklace. You can flip it back and forth between the back view or front view. Whatever way that works best for you.

But keep wrapping the wire around the nest of beads to build up the nest. It doesn’t have to be built in a perfect circle wrap either. You can use oval wraps or figure eight wraps. Just however you want your bird’s nest to look. If you want it smooth, go with perfect circle wraps. If you want it more natural looking, go for a rougher looking mix of styles of wraps.

After 5-10 rounds of building, again secure in 2-3 locations with a securing loop to a previously secured round. So that all rounds will be secured.

Step 5 Bird nest necklace

When you have about 3 inches left of the wire left, thread it up to meet up with the original tail. Now you have a few different choices in how you end the bird nest necklace.

Option 1: you can wrap the wires together, fold the wires under to the back and then tuck them under and into the back of the nest. Then attach a jump wire to an exposed wire, which can then be attached to a necklace.

Option 2: wrap the wires together and create a loop out of the wires (so you don’t need a jump ring to attach to a necklace) and then secure around the base of the loop creating an all enclosed one-piece bird nest necklace

Lastly, you can then attach the bird or feather charm if you so choose. Or you can also attach birthstone charms to dangle from the bottom of the nest if you want. Like I said earlier, there are so many ways you can customize this to make it unique and personal depending on who you are making it for.

Thread it onto a chain and you are done!

It’s easy, fast and simple to complete in under 30 minutes! Even for a beginner jewelry maker!

And it doesn’t cost very much either! Yet it makes for a very cherished gift! And a fabulous handmade piece of jewelry.

Photos captured with the Canon 6D  using the Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Zoom Lens and Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens after dark utilizing the Flashpoint Ring Light and Canon speedlite 430EX II.

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